Just for fun; I had problem to reach one of my sensor quite close to Esphome, but at the same time I was able to read my neighbors Xiaomi toothbrush trough 35cm brick wall.
There are many different presence detection solutions out there.
I use Monitor as it can track both BLE and traditional Bluetooth devices in a way that is kinder to your 2.4ghz network.
I also use ESPHome nodes for recieving some BLE sensors.
Home/away is fine for me, room based automations I can cover ok with motion sensors etc.
As far as I understood OP wants to detect some data from broadcast, not just detect presenceā¦?
My reading of OP was that they wanted to track a device with a randomised MAC, which transmitted some fixed manufacturer data they were hoping to leverage? Not sensor data as such?
And I replied in post 2.
After that I wasnāt able to follow what OP is looking forā¦
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Iām also just trying to broaden out the topic a bit.
I think when you start with presence detection, you can get fixated on specific devices, solutions or aspects of it. Or you donāt even really know your requirements.
Last time I checked (quite a few years ago), room based tracking was an estimate at best (twist your arm or walk in front of obstruction and now the rssi is stronger in another room etc).
Many people end up with hybrid solutions for more localised detection: Bed occupancy sensors, mmwave, PIR, phone is charging etc. I even use a time of flight sensor at my desk.
Then thereās ping, GPS etc etcā¦
So I think itās good to read up a fair bit on the topic before committing to one solution too much. Unless youāre happy just tinkering with whatever to start learning.
This all said, I donāt have a view to the best solution for the more immediate use case of tracking device with randomised mac using manufacturer data.
Iād just like to thank everyone for their help. I think that I have enough to get this working now, albeit I clearly need to do a lot more reading.
I have installed the Bermuda integration and that seems to have resolved the immediate problem (HA native BLE tracking simply stopping dead). However, I will also look at using ESPHOME for tracking my watch as (it seems) as if Bermuda might struggle with that.
My immediate requirement was to resurrect a number of automations which trigger when my granddaughter is with us (turning off various devices and arming presence sensors etc). These had been working very well based upon a tracker in her changing bag, but stopped when HA stopped working in this regard.
Wanting to track my watch was a separate requirement which Iād wanted to pursue for some time.
Thank you everyone for your responses.
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